Welcome to a different version of 5 Issues I Appreciated (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. At this time that title is a little bit of a misnomer; I bought again from trip Monday night time, so I noticed little or no baseball earlier than Tuesday. That stated, I didn’t have to see very a lot to have a good time. This week has been superior. Dwelling runs each mammoth and inside-the-park, nice baserunning by gradual guys, unhealthy baserunning by gradual guys, reflex performs and dekes; the listing goes on and on. We would want the All-Star break simply to catch our collective breath earlier than a bustling commerce deadline and dash to the end. For now, although, let’s simply marvel on the week – after my customary nod to Zach Lowe of The Ringer, after all.
1. Unconventional Double Performs
Cody Bellinger has been welcome addition to the Yankees after they acquired him for peanuts over the winter. He’s flashing the offensive prowess that has come and gone through the years, and with Trent Grisham manning middle, he’s taking part in the nook outfield greater than he has prior to now. His glove isn’t pretty much as good because it was at his peak, however placing a middle fielder in left continues to be a plus on your workforce protection, because the Mets discovered on Sunday. This Juan Soto line drive would have been successful towards virtually anybody else:
Statcast gave it a 25% catch likelihood, and I feel it was in all probability even tougher than that. Catch likelihood measures how far Bellinger needed to run and the way a lot time he needed to do it, however that ball was completely scalded and had a lot topspin that it was hooking down exhausting within the temporary time it was within the air. He caught it by the very finish of the webbing; “baseball is a recreation of inches” is normally in regards to the bat hitting the ball or a bang-bang play, however on this case, one inch separated a catch from additional bases:
Oh yeah, then this occurred:
That throw is pretty much as good of a play because the catch! At full extension, stretched out awkwardly to safe the ball, Bellinger nonetheless managed to search out first base on the run and unleash an absolute seed that hit Paul Goldschmidt proper within the glove on the fly. Making that catch was exhausting sufficient. Making it with out falling was even tougher. Making it with out falling after which throwing a frozen rope on track? Virtually unthinkable.
Even after that catch, even with that throw, you may marvel why Francisco Lindor bought doubled off. Partially, he couldn’t consider anybody might catch that line drive. Partially, too, he bought deked. Goldschmidt no-sold the play, barely shifting his glove till he completely needed to. This isn’t the physique language of a man determined to show a double play:
That’s not the right angle, however you get the concept. The rhythm of this play, to Lindor, didn’t really feel like the sort the place he’d have to dash and dive again to first. When somebody makes a play that good, you flip round and return, however what are they going to do, unleash an off-balance missile whereas the primary baseman you’re observing barely strikes? Apparently, sure!
2. Irrational Exuberance
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. shouldn’t be a great baserunner. That’s not an opinion. He’s been under common in every year of his main league profession. He has 24 profession steals and has been caught stealing 12 occasions. He’s gradual, and he hits into quite a lot of double performs. However regardless of all that, Vlad likes to run. Give him the possibility, and he’ll take off. Take Wednesday, for instance. Guerrero took benefit of an errant pickoff throw to scamper to second:
You’ve seen that play one million occasions. Everybody was fairly relaxed about it; within the recreation audio, you’ll be able to truly hear Jays first base coach Mark Budzinski calmly telling Vlad “go forward, go forward.” However the play wasn’t over:
Yeah, don’t do this. I’ve already talked about that Guerrero isn’t fleet of foot, nevertheless it additionally took him ceaselessly to get shifting; acceleration isn’t a power both. Watch his ft – his first step was truly backwards, out into proper subject. Adrian Houser was on the improper facet of the mound, however Vlad simply didn’t have sufficient straight line pace to make it matter. To make issues even worse, that was the third out of the inning, at third base, with Addison Barger — one of many groups’ hottest hitters — on the plate. Towards the White Sox! Don’t do that.
Don’t do that both:
Now, to be truthful, this can be a more durable play than earlier than. The underlying trigger, although, is comparable: a perception that baserunning is simpler than it truly is. Elite runners could be protected there. That stated, elite runners are rather a lot sooner, and higher at sliding, and so they’d in all probability take two steps to their left to raised block the throwing lane. That needs to be an especially tough throw for a right-handed first baseman, as an alternative of the simple pitch-and-catch that it was. And when you’re useless to rights, effectively, hitting the brakes and retreating is a greater possibility than beginning your slide so early. You in all probability gained’t survive the rundown, however you may keep in it lengthy sufficient to present the runner on third time to attain earlier than you’re tagged for the ultimate out of the inning.
To Guerrero’s credit score, he did strive a nifty maneuver at second that almost rescued the entire thing:
Once more, although, depart the high-difficulty baserunning stunts for the high-talent baserunners. Each of those selections can be wonderful if, say, Trea Turner had made them. Understanding what you’ll be able to accomplish is a key a part of accruing worth on the bases. Watching what occurs when that essential step doesn’t happen certain is enjoyable for a impartial observer, although.
3. One-up-manship
Kyle Schwarber had himself a recreation on Tuesday night time. He went 2-for-4 with a double and a house run, and that homer was outrageous. Not solely did he hit it into McCovey Cove, however he did so roughly flat-footed:
He even confirmed off one other side of his recreation an inning earlier, swiping second base off a distracted Robbie Ray:
That introduced Schwarber to 9 steals on the yr, with just one caught stealing. He’s one of many slowest runners in baseball, however he understands the right software of that pace, typically stealing bases off pitchers who overlook about him. He’s not a very good baserunner general, however he’s been selecting good spots to go this yr.
One batter later, although, Schwarber tried to double up on his baserunning feat by swiping third. Enter Patrick Bailey:
Schwarber had an excellent learn on Ray; he bought a wonderful soar in an excellent spot to steal, with the batter screening the catcher on the plate. Bailey simply did the whole lot he had to try this a lot better:
Watch his footwork there. He cleared batter Alec Bohm and bought his lead foot planted behind the batter’s field whereas he was catching the ball. The catch and switch have been each good, letting him throw in rhythm. The throw? A laser beam to Matt Chapman’s glove for a tag that bought Schwarber by an inch or two. I don’t assume Schwarber might have accomplished something higher; he simply bought beat by maybe the most effective defensive catcher within the recreation.
Bailey is having a depressing season on the plate, however he even outdid Schwarber there, too. The Schwarbomb within the seventh put the Phillies up 3-1, and the rating stayed there till Bailey batted with one out within the ninth. Then, effectively:
It’s exhausting to think about a extra thrilling walk-off than that, and it made for the right kicker to this recreation. Positive, Schwarber had a stolen base and two-run homer, however Bailey had a caught stealing and a walk-off, three-run, inside-the-park homer. Actual “something you are able to do I can do higher” vibes.
4. Two-Means Excellence
Oh, you want inside-the-park dwelling runs? Northern California has your again:
That’s Lawrence Butler main off the house half of the primary for the A’s with an only-in-Sacramento play. It concerned the ball kicking off of a series hyperlink fence part of the wall and eluding the whole Braves outfield. That allow Butler rating even with some of the nonchalant begins to an inside-the-parker you’ll ever see:
That’s the stride of somebody who thought he hit the ball out of the park, however the loopy carom and Butler’s pace made all of it work ultimately. That’s been an indicator of his recreation this yr, the truth is. He’s not the most effective defender on the planet, however he’s bought sufficient vary and instincts to make up for a scattershot arm. He has loads of swing-and-miss in his recreation, however he has sufficient plate self-discipline to maintain his strikeouts from capsizing his offensive contributions. He’s a savvy baserunner able to hitting prime pace sooner than you’d assume. And he has sufficient energy to make up for any small flaws elsewhere:
Contained in the park? Exterior the park? Butler has the pace/energy mixture to perform each. He appears like a pleasant constructing block of the following good A’s workforce – not this yr’s workforce, after all, however possibly subsequent yr’s. After 1,000 main league plate appearances, it appears fairly clear that he’s a stable all-around participant however not fairly a star. That’s simply effective for each the contract and the prospect pedigree, although – and as an enormous bonus, he’s tremendously enjoyable to observe. Extra dwelling runs like these, please.
5. Uncooked Energy
Extra dwelling runs like these, too. Jac Caglianone was taking part in school baseball final yr. The sixth choose within the 2024 draft, he seemed extra like a developmental stash than a plug-and-play star. He performed each methods in school, although he was clearly rather a lot higher offensively, and the Royals drafted him with that in thoughts. However he was uncooked, with iffy command of the strike zone and a swing-first mentality that led to ugly swings over sliders.
A whirlwind tour of the minors – 158 wRC+ in Double-A, 164 in Triple-A – satisfied Kansas Metropolis to name him up at the start of June. By simply over a month of play, the outcomes have been disappointing; Caglianone is hitting .151/.205/.286, for a 31 wRC+. However the outcomes are mendacity. He’s been a lot better than I assumed he’d be, to be fairly trustworthy. He’s operating a 22% strikeout fee, far decrease than I’d have anticipated provided that he’s chasing 41% of the pitches he sees exterior the strike zone, one of many worst marks within the huge leagues. The stats could be tough, however the course of isn’t; by xwOBA, he’s been about a mean hitter, fairly than 70% under common, because of his prodigious exit velocities.
In different phrases, over the long term. Caglianone goes to hit for lots of energy. He’s already hitting the ball very exhausting, the truth is, he simply hasn’t fairly harnessed that into doubles and dingers. However oh my god, have you ever seen what it appears like when he will get scorching? Tuesday night time, he did this:
If you wish to understand how scalded that ball was, watch the outfielders. These are courtesy jogs, not “possibly I can get this one” sprints. That was 114 mph off the bat, the sort of dwelling run that solely the Judges and Stantons of the world can constantly pull off. Whenever you hit the ball that low (19 levels), it’s exhausting to depart the stadium. Caglianone is a part of that group of elite energy hitters already.
One hard-hit ball typically begets one other. His outcomes thus far have been poor, however he’s clearly near unlocking one thing. For those who depart a pitch over the center of the plate towards Caglianone, it’s going to journey a great distance. Take a look at this nonsense from the following day:
That’s not an affordable place to hit a house run. It went 466 ft, some actual Bo Jackson stuff. I had the quantity cranked up on this recreation, and the crack of the bat was so thunderous that the whole crowd went “ooooh” in unison. He won’t have hit that ball fairly as exhausting because the earlier one, however he bought it on the good angle and nonetheless tattooed it. His energy binges are park-proof; Kaufmann Stadium is the stingiest stadium in baseball for left-handed energy hitters, however in case you hit the ball as exhausting as Caglianone does, it doesn’t matter the place the fence is.
I didn’t assume Caglianone was going to hit the majors this shortly. I’m nonetheless sort of stunned at how effectively he’s tailored to huge league pitching; he’s getting attacked relentlessly on the within a part of the plate and chasing 40% of the time, and but nonetheless operating cheap strikeout charges. However I’m in no way stunned at how enjoyable he’s to observe – and I can’t watch for extra rainmaking dwelling runs, and extra mob film celebrations within the dugout:
